Table of Contents
Introduction
The chief role of human resource management is to maximize the utility of all employees within an organization. To achieve full optimization of the employee they must be efficiently managed. The principal obligation of a manager in an organization is to effectively manage the available resources including capital, material, and human resources to propel the organization forward. Similarly, human resource manager has an obligation to effectively manage human resources as the force which runs the institution. Managers in any organization, therefore, must select, recruit, and keep qualified staffs to execute critical tasks, inspire them, as well as retain and develop their professional skills. For a manager to efficiently perform these tasks, they must policies stipulating how much every employee in a particular job should earn. The remuneration must be competitive to ensure retention of the best talents. Equally, policies must be designed to ensure employees are offered legally stipulate benefits like medical and family leave. Other benefits which touch on the social issue of the employees should be offered with the intention of keeping the talented and productive staffs, as well as draw skilled applicants. To effectively manage employee the organization must also initiate programs to safeguard employees’ health and safety (Wellington, 2017). This research paper, therefore, will distinctly define three most valuable lessons learned so far in the course and explicitly link them to human resource management, as well as discuss their importance to human resource management. Besides, the investigation will articulately describe how the lessons learned will be integrated to effect behavior change.
The Three Lessons Learned
The three most valuable lessons I have learned so far in the course is that to manage employees in the present workplace setting effectively, a manager must sufficiently understand and value important legal, social, and competitive issues touching on the employees. Managers who effectively manage workers through the establishment of policies which acknowledge employees’ legal, social, and competitive issues enhance productivity among the workers; hence, immense revenues (Cascio, 2015).
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Competitive Issues
Globalized economy has availed unique business opportunities as a result of free movement of goods, capital, ideas, services, people, and information beyond national boundaries. Both domestic and international markets are thus characterized by fierce rivalry as foreign and domestic competitions struggle for market share. The stern competition being witnessed in the global market has led to competitive issues in the human resource management. Some of the competitive issues which have resulted include workforce diversity, technology, training, employee productivity, retention, outsourcing, talent management, and globalization. Competitive issues in human resource management, thus, refer to dynamic and complex challenges affecting the employees as a result of globalized markets (Zheng, 2017). Globalization of markets has led to workforce diversity. Business organizations which operate on international scale recruit employees from different nations, cultural and ethical backgrounds, it is therefore vital to effectively manage a diverse workforce. The problem with many managers is the inability to optimize different talents and convert them into a benefit. Employees from different cultural settings, ethnicity, language, lifestyle, gender, language, age present creative perspectives and ideas to an organization. Manager, therefore, has the responsibility of establishing an effective operational relationship with workers from varied backgrounds at work. The manager should also establish a policy to identify and eradicate barriers which hinder hiring, keeping, training, and promotion of different group in the organization (Sagar, 2014).
Technological advancement has transformed how organizations operate. Technological improvement leads to workers conflict because fresh technology favors only some employees especially those with professional skills. It thus causes retrenchment of some employees and keeping of others. The manager should be knowledgeable of the effects of adopting some technological advancement and threats they present to some employees. Similarly, competitive business environment makes managers implement strategies to retain the most effective employees. Therefore, to effectively manage employee one must value and develop a positive outlook towards workers (Wellington, 2017).
Legal Issues
To effectively manage employees, a manager must have adequate knowledge of the entire employment-linked laws that affect his/her organization. Possession of such knowledge prevents expensive and time-wasting complaints and investigations. Workers performance has a direct impact on the organization performance. Therefore, if the manager articulates explicit expectation to workers, then the organization encounter increased revenue due to motivated workers. Motivated workers imply the ability to set precise, measurable objectives, increased revenues, and happier work settings. Such an atmosphere can be created only if the manager clearly understands all the federal and state laws touching on employment. Adequate knowledge of employment-related laws guarantee employees of fair, just, and equal reliable treatment in the workplace. Furthermore, a manager ought to have immense understanding and appreciation of international and civil right laws, federal and state guidelines and regulations, as well as court interpretations which render discrimination founded on physical disability, religion, nationality, sex, origin, age, and race during hiring illegal (Cascio, 2015). Legal issues, therefore refer to legal challenges posed by posed by rapid changing business environment.
Social Issues
For effective management of employees, a manager must be appreciative and knowledgeable of changes resulting from globalization of the world markets. The ability of a manager to adapt to the changes entails his/her response to the shifting workplace values and demographics, raising skill specialization, enhancing workforce equipment to boost independent learning, learning as a team, informed understanding to diversity, and engaging employees in a long-term training program (Sagar, 2014). Social issues, thus, refer to the sociological challenges presented by the globalization of the world markets. Human resource management has an obligation to be concerned with employees’ social issues, as well as the organization’s impact on environment and society at large. HRM hence plays a chief role in the protection of human rights, workplace responsibility, good corporate citizenship, and environmental stewardship.
Connection and Importance of Each Lesson to HRM
Competitive issues are a consequence of globalization. Global markets connect employees in each industry all over the world. Furthermore, globalization has availed cheap labor due to ease of transportation and communication. Similarly, globalization has contributed to the circulation of skilled talents to both developing and developed nations. It also enables individual to work beyond the borders of their country. As a result, managers need to brand their organizations universal employer to attract diverse talents. The increased work diversity in workplaces requires managers to establish policies to enhance respect and diversity (Cascio, 2015). Failure to enact such policies will make effective management of a diversified workforce difficult. Managers should also allow employees time to sharpen their skills to match the current technological development. Failure to allow workers time to sharpen their skill will make retention of the most talented employees cumbersome. Competitive issues are linked to human resource management because failure to have adequate knowledge and appreciation of diversity presented by globalization, as well as new challenges posed by technology leads to ineffective management of human resource (Shaikh, 2015).
However, competitive issues are beneficial to human resource management. For example, technology has led to the development of human resource management information system (HRIS) which has made management of employees effective. The system has led to timely and easier tracking of employees’ data such as attendance records, pension plans, payroll, and employee surveys, as well as training and development schedule. The system is also significant to human resource management because it is used to generate human resource reports, strategic planning, and evaluation of human resource policies (Cascio, 2015). The human resource management information system has thus become an essential tool to aid in effective management of workers and decision making.
Effective management of workers is heavily impacted by both federal and state laws regulating employment concerns. A human resource manager, therefore, must have immense knowledge of all laws and regulations touching all aspects of HRM such as hiring, placement, training, and compensation. Lack of adequate knowledge on the legal issue can make a manager fail to manage people effectively due to persistent complaints, consistent investigations, and expensive litigations. Immense understanding and appreciation of the legal issues is significant to HRM because they assure workers of just, fair, and equal treatment in the workplace. Just remuneration, inclusive employment, and impartiality in workplace enhance retention of skilled, motivate, and talented employees. Besides, human resource conformity with legal stipulations is crucial to effective management of any organization. Human resource manager must be knowledgeable regarding employment laws and in establishing policies and measures to ensure compliance. Therefore, to guarantee effective management of workers manager must be sensitive to legal concerns like affirmative action, sexual harassment, and equal opportunity to all without discrimination (Zheng, 2017).
Social issues are closely linked to the sustainability of any organization. A human resource manager, therefore, requires a comprehensive understanding of the social issue related to employees to manage them effectively. For example, a manager should be cognizant of the social issues regarding privacy and data security of the entire employees. HRM should ensure total conformity with all federal and state to create a conducive working environment for employees. Besides, a manager should communicate the organization principles to ensure the integrity and ethical conducts among employees. Illegal doings such as deceit, theft, and fraud, should not be condoned any manner if workers are to be managed effectively (Shaikh, 2015). Understanding of social issues is critical to HRM because it aids the manager in creating policies that enable employees to balance work and life. Some of the policies that aid workers in achieving such a balance include maternity leave, rotation schedules, job sharing, and daycare for young children, as well as flexible working hours. Another policy which may result from a proper understanding of social issue includes wellbeing and health proposals. Social issues are thus important to HRM especially in designing policies which ensure security, health, and social progress of workers.
Integration of the Lessons Learned
The course concepts and the lessons learned will be integrated into improving my critical thinking. As a result, I will effectively offer reliable, timely and practical solutions to issues touching on employees. The concepts learned will also enable me to comprehend the procedures regarding creating, implementation, and managing of human resource management policies dealing with competitive, legal, and social issues. Besides, I will be well prepared to execute the roles of human resource manager because I have acquired a comprehensive understanding of the role he/she should perform. The adequate understandings I have achieved will enable me to transfer the theoretical concepts from the course into a practical workplace setting. As a consequence, it will be easy for me to evaluate the organization compliance with federal and state regulations and laws, as well as assess equal employment law within a workplace context. The ability to utilize theoretical knowledge in a new workplace context will enhance my creativity regarding emerging challenges. The skills gained and developed, as well as the theoretical concepts and the practical lessons learned, will be instrumental tools in managing workers effectively.
- Cascio, W. F. (2015). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
- Wellington, P. (2017). Effective People Management: Your Guide to Boosting Performance,
- Managing Conflict and Becoming a Great Leader in Your Start Up. London: Kogan Page.
- Sagar, M. N. (2014). Emerging Challenges in HRM: Workforce Diversity.
- Shaikh, M. J. (2015). HRM Issues in Emerging Economies. The Business & Management Review, 5(4), 246.
- Zheng, C. (2017). Globalization and international human resource management.